While we use the exquisite blooms to accent a dining table or brighten a guest room, in the wild, the flowers use their exotic appearances as survival tools. The floral sirens rely on scent and visual mimicry to lure pollinators, ensuring their reproduction.

"Orchid flowers have lots of individual personality because they don't have circular symmetry," says Jane Malin, who with her husband, David Malin, has been an orchid enthusiast for more than 40 years. "This allows them to have an endless diversity of shapes to go with an endless diversity of colors and sizes. Orchid hybridizers have developed so many surprising and beautiful flowers."

Since many orchids are tropical, the Malins grow several outdoors at their Clear Lake home most of the year. It's also easy to grow them indoors in bright, indirect light, they say.

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Orchids by the Shore

When: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Sept. 6 and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 7

Where: South Shore Harbour Resort and Conference Center, 2500 South Shore Blvd., League City

Flowering plants decorate their home for weeks. Among them is the Monniera Millenium Magic var. 'Witchcraft' with blooms so dark they appear black to the eye. A subtle, complementary cache pot is all that's needed to display the rare flower.

Galveston Bay Orchid Society member Joyce McMillan, a friend of the Malins, has discovered other ways to enjoy orchids - whether they're cut flowers or potted - around the home. McMillan, co-chair of the society's Sept. 6-7 show and sale, says visitors will get arrangement ideas at the event.

Here are her tips for three easy displays:

Floral jewel

An elegant magenta cymbidium bloom and small fern frond tucked into a napkin ring can accent a table setting. The cymbidium has more substance than some orchid blooms, such as cattleyas, so they can be arranged a day ahead without water, she says. Or snip a flower and place in a small water pick for longer-lasting color.

Submerged beauty

Long, arching cymbidium stems make a striking, traditional arrangement in a vase. But two sturdy cymbidium blooms submerged in a tall cylinder filled with distilled water is pure drama. To arrange, McMillan places black pebbles in the bottom of a vase and gently pushes a piece of grapevine stem with two blooms wired onto it into the container and adds a fern frond. Use a rock, if needed, to anchor the stem with blooms. For longer-lasting color, display in indirect light.

Garden under glass

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An orchid terrarium offers a different take on a centerpiece or a touch of nature on an office desk.

McMillan creates a self-contained environment by planting three small orchids in a footed glass container with a lid. The pink dendrobium and yellow gomeza will flower for weeks, she says. And the jewel orchid (Ludisia discolor), grown for its velvety, patterned foliage, will eventually produce a white bloom spike.

McMillan first places a 3-inch layer of fine bark mix for orchids on the container's bottom, then slips the tiny plants from their pots and arranges them in the terrarium. She covers the roots with a half inch of bark mix and top dresses the display with black pebbles to add texture.

After a gentle spritz, McMillan places the lid on her living display. The low-care, long-lasting terrarium is best in bright, indirect light, she says. Avoid direct sun, or you may create a furnace.

Remove the terrarium lid if too much condensation collects on the container walls. Or, if needed, water the tiny garden just a bit with a turkey baster. Avoid over-watering, or plants will rot.

"Once an orchid looses all its flowers, I replace it with another blooming orchid," McMillan says. "They're not all going to live in there forever. It's just a nice way of enjoying your orchids."